Pappu Yadav gets life term for murder of Left leader

Patna, Feb 14 (IANS) A court here Thursday sentenced Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Pappu Yadav and two other politicians to life imprisonment for the 1998 murder of Left leader Ajit Sarkar.

Special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) judge Birendra Mohan Srivastava sentenced Pappu Yadav and Rajan Tiwari, former legislator and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader, as well as Anil Yadav, after finding them guilty.

Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Ajit Sarkar, a legislator from Purnea, was shot dead June 14, 1998, by men allegedly acting on Pappu Yadav’s orders.

Pappu Yadav, alias Rajesh Ranjan, is currently imprisoned at Tihar jail in Delhi.

He was shifted to the high-security Tihar jail in February 2005 following a Supreme Court order to take him out of Patna after it was found that he was flouting regulations with impunity in Beur jail where he was lodged. Tiwari is currently in Beur jail.

Pappu Yadav was arrested in March 2004 for his alleged involvement in the murder. His wife Ranjita Ranjan is an LJP MP.

During the trial, the CBI, which investigated the case, produced 61 witnesses while 27 witnesses were produced by the accused in their defence.

The final hearing started last month as directed by the Patna High Court. It was completed early this month.

While hearing the habeas corpus petition filed by a relative of Anil Yadav, another man accused in the case, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Rajesh Balia and Justice Chandramauli Kumar Prasad had issued the directive to the lower court to complete the trial by the end of this month.